Letter: Open letter to Dick Durbin

Dec. 7, 2018

To the Editor:

This is an open letter to Dick Durbin. Mr. Durbin, it is so discouraging to hear of the partisanship that rules in our government. Day after day, we, the American people, hear the same thing – the Democrats are in lockstep against anything the Republicans want to do, and the Republicans are in lockstep against the Democrats.

You, Mr. Durbin, are part of the problem because you are not part of the solution. You have been in the Senate for more years than just about anyone else who is there, and I cannot think of a time when I have heard you “reach across the aisle” to the Republicans.

My husband has just spent several hours trying to switch our Affordable Care Act insurance from Illinois to North Carolina, where we are moving. He is in a state of utter frustration because this task is so hard, and he spent 35 years of his career in the insurance industry. The ACA was suppose to solve insurance problems, not create more. Why should it be so hard? What happened to the claim of portability of insurance?

When are you, Mr. Durbin, going to sit down with some Republicans and figure out a way to allow people to get medical insurance that doesn’t cost us all billions of dollars and give us so few options? You could start by talking to actuaries, of which my husband is one.

He has a plan that would fix the mess that we are in. It would provide the compassionate safety net that the Democrats accuse Republicans of not wanting, and satisfy the capitalistic attitude that has made the U.S. economy the greatest in the world, but which the Democrats express disdain when it comes to medical issues. I challenge you, Mr. Durbin, to lead in doing what is best for all the American people.